As part of the State Government plans to operationalise three pump houses of Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project by June next year, Minister for Irrigation T. Harisha Rao and senior officials of the department held a meeting with representatives of several foreign companies specialised in fabricating high-capacity motor pumps for lifting water.
Initially, the minister explained to the importance of Kaleshwaram project to the State, how it was going to be the lifeline of Telangana and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's vision to take Godavari to fields through the project by June next. Stating that the schedules for construction of pump houses and other works had already been finalised, the minister asked the suppliers of pumps, motors and other electro-mechanical equipment to prepare action plans in tune with the time-line without compromising on the quality.
Interaction
Special Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, Engineer-in-Chief C. Muralidhar, Advisor on Lift Irrigation Projects K. Penta Reddy, Chief Engineer N. Venkateshwarlu, Chief Engineer (Designs) A. Narender Reddy and Officer on Special Duty Sridhar Rao Deshpande were among those who interacted with the representatives of foreign companies' with whom the contractor-company executing the works, MEIL, had entered into agreements for supply of the equipment. Directing the contractor-company to take all necessary steps for completion of the project as scheduled, the minister said Kaleshwaram was not only meant to meet irrigation needs but supply of drinking water to Hyderabad and other parts of the State under Mission Bhagiratha project were also its top priorities.
Linking of project
By linking the project with Mission Bhagiratha it was planned to provide piped drinking water to all households in the State by December this year, he noted. Highlighting the fact that completing the project in time was a challenge, Mr. Harish Rao told MEIL representatives to procure pumps, motors, other machinery and equipment as per the time-line fixed. He directed the company to speed up civil works on Medigadda, Sundilla and Annaram barrages of the project by March next so that a record was set at least in Asia for completing such a huge project in the least possible time.
The minister suggested that completion of civil works, erecting pumps and motors in all three pump houses, other electro-mechanical fittings and testing of motors, construction of power transmission lines and sub-stations should be taken up in tandem. He told MEIL to finalised the schedule for setting up first pump for taking up dry run and supply and erection of other pumps in the three pump houses. Representatives of Andritz Hydro (Austria), Xylem Water Solutions (USA), ABB (Finland & Switzerland), WEG Industries (Brazil), Severn Glocon (China) and Hubei Hongcheng (China) and their representatives in India attended the meeting.